Last week’s launch of interstate online poker between Nevada and Delaware has caused traffic to rise considerably in both states – especially Delaware.
Prior to the merger, Delaware averaged only a handful or two of ring game players. At the moment, that seven-day average sits at at 140, allowing Delaware Poker to jump more than 20 places in the global rankings of PokerScout.
Ring game traffic at WSOP.com in Nevada also spiked, as the site went from hosting action for 150 players to 170. Nevada’s other online poker site, Real Gaming, has no involvement in the Multi State Internet Poker Network at this time.
The week-old merger has seemingly prompted online poker players to come out of hiding in Delaware. When the state’s ipoker regime launched in November 2013, player traffic was such that the first full month of operation in December 2013 brought in online poker revenue of $106,922.
It has been all downhill since, as the last two months of ipoker revenue reported by the Delaware State Lottery have [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/delaware-online-poker-9-6-december/”]failed to reach $30,000[/geolink]. But that figure will likely be dwarfed when March revenue numbers are released thanks to the shared liquidity.
Delaware players have three poker sites to choose from hosted by Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway. All three share players within the state and also now feature combined action with WSOP.com in Nevada for most games. 888 Holdings powers the igaming platform in Delaware and is also a partner with WSOP in Nevada.
Online poker in the U.S. reached a state of stagnation as of late before the soft launch of interstate action between Delaware and Nevada [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/delaware-nevada-interstate-online-poker-launched/”]went into effect[/geolink] on March 24. Ultimate Poker exited the Nevada market in November, citing the difficulties of running a viable operation within an intrastate format.
No states have enacted regulation and launched online poker regimes since New Jersey and the other two did so in 2013. And it hasn’t been looking promising for 2015 either with [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/hearing-on-pennsylvania-igaming-proposals-next-month/”]only Pennsylvania making progress[/geolink]. California continues to be bogged down [geolink href=”https://www.usafriendlypokersites.com/california-online-poker-situation-worsens/”]by tribal in-fighting[/geolink].
But hopefully all that will change now that the legislators of states considering online poker and gambling regulation can see that interstate poker can be the success that many had envisioned or predicted. A next logical step would see New Jersey join the Multi State Internet Gaming Agreement brokered between the governors of Delaware and Nevada in February 2014.
New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck has gone on record previously as saying that the future of igaming involves compacts both nationally and internationally. If revenue sharing details can be worked out that takes into account the number of players that the larger state of New Jersey would bring to the table, perhaps the Garden State will join in shared liquidity before too long.
